Harold's Renovation Blog: #34: And Just Like That, The Beach House Threw Us A Bone

On this week’s podcast, we’re counting down our five favorite tricks for adding flow to any space so it feels larger and less cramped. We’re also divulging a big financial plus for buying a beach house in such bad condition (it’s saving us thousands!). Plus we’re exploring what organizational items annoy professional organizers, and what they recommend instead. We also got some great tips from a listener who finally conquered her giant laundry pile. Oh, and John revealed some mildly creepy Facebook stalking that turned him into a self-proclaimed hero.

You can download this episode from iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and TuneIn Radio – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos that we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you might have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

In the absence of a visual to show you about the money-saving program we found, here’s a peek at some progress at the beach house. The rotted side (that turned out to have even worse foundation issues than our initial inspection revealed) had to be completely removed and rebuilt. More to come in a post soon!

Updates

Following up on the Christmas gift exchange themes we mentioned in Episode #29, below are some of the “What’s That Smell?!” ideas we’re batting around for this year (and yes, this is one of our weirder moodboards):
1. A collapsible popcorn popper (for those who love that smell as much as I do)
2. A cute cheese platter (paired with stinky cheese)
3. These hilarious breath mints (read the packaging!)
4. This on-topic book (actually sounds really good)
5. Sweet smelling soap (we have the body lotion version of this and love it)
6. Sleek reed diffusers (such pretty frosted glass)
7. A mouthwatering mimosa scented candle (cheers!)
8. These delightfully nostalgic markers (is it weird that I want some?)
9. Fragrant spices (for the home chef)
10. This eco air purifier (now I want one for our car)

Also (not pictured):
- A scented storybook for kids
- A guessing game about smells
- This hilarious gag gift that I think the kids would love most of all
And here’s that book John & Megan recommended during the laundry mountain update: The Power Of Habit

What’s Not

Here’s the Good Housekeeping article about Organizing Stuff That Professional Organizers Never Use

Image source

And as for the things pro organizers actually liked, here are: felt hangers (or velvet hangers), under bed storage containers (for seasonal storage, not everyday stuff!), and plastic shoe boxes.

Take Five

Looking for a few posts that are related to making your space feel bigger and less choppy? Here ya go:
- Making flooring cohesive
- Choosing a whole house color palette
- The virtues of a big mirror
- Built-ins that draw the eye up (here they are finished with molding)
- Choosing the right curtains (and hanging them)
- Installing crown molding
- And since we also mentioned larger rugs, here’s a whole page of our favorite area rugs

We’re Digging

Here’s that Netflix zombie (but not really zombie) show that we loved bingeing: Glitch
And here are those take-a-deep-breath books that Sherry mentioned: Chasing Slow & Hands Free Momma

Psst- Looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into? Well, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all past episodes.